Ballarat celebrates launch of 50th XTrapolis train
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Alstom celebrated the completion of its 50th XTrapolis train set on Wednesday, 30 March.
Alstom CEO Chris Raine was joined by Victorian Transport Minister Terry Mulder, Federal member for Ballarat, Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and transport, Health and Ageing and Regional Development (Victoria) Catherine King and the Mayor of Ballarat, Craig Fletcher.
Mr Mulder congratulated Alstom on reaching this impressive milestone in the development of Melbournes suburban passenger network. The Baillieu Government is committed to boosting the rail network and to seeing Victorian industry and workers benefiting from that investment, he said.
As well as the 17 new trains that will roll out from this workshop over the next two years, weve injected another $100 million into maintaining our rail network, which will mean $900 million invested in maintenance over the next four years.
As a country Victorian from Colac, Im very proud to see our world-class trains being built in Ballarat by skilled locals.
Alstom Australia CEO Chris Raine lauded the efforts of suppliers and the local workforce.
This is a proud moment for Alstom and the people at the regional manufacturing centre for Rolling Stock in Ballarat, said Alstom Australia CEO Chris Raine.
At Alstom we aim to build the best trains in the world our AGV Very High Speed Train holds the global rail speed record at 574.8 km/h.
Based on the quality of the work done at this facility, I see no reason why the Australian rail industry could not play a role in delivering those same Alstom high speed trains in Australia, Mr Raine said.
In 2002 the first XTrapolis train-set rolled on to the Melbourne network. I am proud today to announce that almost a decade later the 50th train-set is to be delivered four weeks ahead of schedule.
For the past 10 years, the workers at this site and our local partners have been responsible for constructing XTrapolis trains which are the safest and most reliable on the Melbourne Metro network.
The construction of XTrapolis trains has created 65 jobs at the Ballarat facility, an additional 70 jobs along the supply chain and led to the placement of $75 million in orders for the project. Another 17 trains will join the network over the course of 2011 and 2012.
The 94-year-old facility has a proud history of making trains and Mr Raine believes that it could play a major role in Australias rail future.
We have seen the success of developing local industry at the Ballarat plant and have already invested millions of dollars in the project, said Mr Raine.
As a company it gives us expertise close at hand when we need it and means that increasingly the rail transport of the future will be made in Australia by Australians at a standard that is world class.
To encourage the expansion of the Australian rail industry and increase the amount of local input into Australias trains, Alstom developed the InterConnect Forum.
InterConnect aims to help Australia suppliers improve their manufacturing capabilities and introduce new technologies and processes. The forum also helps Australian workers train to a higher level and produce component parts that can compete with the best in the world.
The forum has also created opportunities for some local companies to play a part in international contracts.
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